JP and Chad discussed major topics of the week related to the rash of public announcements from tech startups about the real-time operations of autonomous Class 8 semis. They’re among us. Waymo, Uber, Tesla, Starsky all had big news, while Embark’s possibly biggest achievement (a Level 4 autonomous coast to coast trip) last month went largely unnoticed. What do these industry outsiders have to offer the trucking industry?

They also discussed the seasonal softening of spot rates on the West Coast and how brokers took big margins from FreightWaves own data scientists. The party is now over, however.

They also touched on the complex case of the TennesseeTech-Fitzgerald Glider study, the attempts to thwart new emissions standards, and the recent serious pushback from two U.S. Senators, as well as Tennessee Tech faculty.

Finally, they covered the logistics companies that are partnering with Accenture, a major blockchain company that claims to have a revolutionary blockchain solution for the supply chain. They discussed where blockchain technology currently stands especially related to scalability and the issue of power usage from what industry experts said this past week.

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